President Obama will hit the road after Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech, selling his ideas during two days of stops in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Tennessee.

Obama’s first followup to his annual address to Congress comes Wednesday morning in Prince George’s County, Md. … he then travels to the Pittsburgh area for a midafternoon speech before flying on to Milwaukee, where he is scheduled to spend Wednesday night.

The Milwaukee speech is scheduled for Thursday morning, following by another flight and speech in Nashville. Obama is scheduled to return to the White House Thursday evening.

In addition, Obama is scheduled to take a virtual national tour on Friday, when he takes questions from Internet users across the country during a Google+ Hangout.

For nearly three decades, extraordinary Americans who exemplify the themes and ideals laid out in the State of the Union Address have been invited to join the First Lady in her viewing box. Learn more about the remarkable individuals who will join First Lady Michelle Obama for the 2014 State of the Union Address:

Jason Collins (Los Angeles, CA)

12-Year NBA Player

While at Stanford, Jason Collins was selected as an All American, named the NCAA’s “Big Man of the Year,” and earned an appearance in the Final Four. After graduating in 2001, Collins was drafted into the NBA and has since played for six teams including the Celtics, whose then coach Doc Rivers said of Collins: “He’s the best. He literally is one of the best guys I’ve ever had in the locker room, player or coach.” In his 12 years in the league, Collins’ teams earned 9 trips to the playoffs including 2 NBA Finals appearances. In April 2013, Collins became the first male player in major American team sports to come out openly as gay. The President expressed his gratitude to Collins for his courageous announcement through an article Collins penned himself. The President said he “couldn’t be prouder” of Collins, recognizing this as a point of progress for the LGBT community, and one more step in America’s goal to treat everyone fairly and with respect. Collins is 35 and lives in Los Angeles, California.

Carlos Arredondo and Jeff Bauman (Boston, MA)

Survivors of the Boston Marathon Bombing

Carlos Arredondo and Jeff Bauman are forever linked due to the attacks on the 117th Boston Marathon. In what has become an iconic image from the day in April of 2013, Carlos – wearing his white Cowboy hat – was captured rushing a badly injured Jeff away from the bombing to safety, thereby becoming two of the faces of ‘Boston Strong.’ From his intensive care hospital bed, Jeff played a vital role in identifying the bombers. After losing both legs in the attack, he is battling back, describing himself as a quick healer and stronger now than he was before the attack. Jeff, 27, and Carlos, 53 and a Gold Star Father, have become close friends.

The conventional wisdom is that Republicans running in 2014 will be campaigning against Obamacare, attempting to recreate the 2010 magic that saw them make massive gains in Congress and state governments, holding themselves in stark contract to Democrats who are responsible for what the GOP sees as a fatally flawed law.

That’s the narrative, and that’s what Republican strategists would have you believe. But comments — or the lack thereof — from some GOP candidates in state and national elections suggest that opposition might not be as ironclad as previously believed, as the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent has documented. In at least one case, in fact, a Republican in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country effectively endorsed the expansion.

It’s a huge shift from the “defund or repeal” mantra during the government shutdown of October, a possible indicator that some conservatives are recognizing that Obamacare is here to stay — and that proposing to knock the newly enrolled off Medicaid is politically perilous.

Politicususa: Republicans Are In Total Retreat As Obamacare Enrollment Skyrockets Past 3 Million

The defeated Republican anti-Obamacare forces are in full retreat after ACA enrollment in healthcare plans surged past 3 million.

In a blog post, HHS reported that:

Since the beginning of open enrollment, millions of Americans are gaining access to health coverage-many for the very first time—thanks to the Affordable Care Act. The most recent data indicates that approximately 3.0 million people have now enrolled in a private health insurance plan through the Federal and State-based Marketplaces since October 1.

Additionally, between October and December over 6.3 million individuals were determined eligible to enroll in Medicaid or CHIP through state agencies and through state-based Marketplaces…..

The mainstream media isn’t reporting this, but the ACA is turning into a huge victory for President Obama.

Birth control and data mining used to be things they believed in, now both are Big Government plots to be stopped.

I’m sure you chuckled at this weekend development as much as I did: At its winter meeting, the Republican National Committee passed a resolution condemning the NSA’s data-mining policy….

…. let’s not kid ourselves. The passage of this resolution is mostly about the guy in the White House. If you want to try to tell me this was an act of principle by the RNC, then put Mitt Romney in the White House for a moment. Do you think the RNC would have considered such a resolution? Please. Reince Priebus would have had a stroke. He’d have quashed it in minutes. But with Barack Obama in the White House, the rules are different. The RNC passed this resolution to kick a little extra sand in Obama’s face.

Brian Beutler (Salon): How the right destroyed itself: History, ideology and strategic blunders

Republicans can’t moderate because their base won’t allow it. Even if they could, Democrats already beat them there

Last week I wrote an article arguing that the impediments to conservative reform are structural — that the idiosyncrasies of the Republican base make appealing to moderate voters a zero-sum game for the party, and thus eliminates the incentive that, for instance, impelled Democrats in the 1980s and 1990s to cater to less-liberal voters.

The article generated some interesting responses, which is fortunate, because they provide a jumping off point to explore the historical and political context of the GOP’s unique predicament.

I think it’s fairly evident that Republicans’ increasing reliance on an older, whiter, more conservative constituency has trapped them into a number of non-negotiable policy dogmas. And I think they they bear most of the blame for their own circumstances. It’s an outgrowth of a conscious political strategy. They began the country and their party down this road, hoping, as Pat Buchanan famously put it, to “split the country in two and…take the bigger half.” They fused the low tax, low regulation agenda of wealthy elites to the worldview of religious conservatives. They birthed the Reagan Revolution, then milked it so vigorously that they’ve become unable to wean themselves from it more than 30 years later.

Frederic Poag (The Daily Banter): The Calculus of Hypocrisy: It’s Still a Lie Even If You Believe It

I don’t trust the Republican Party. This goes beyond disagreeing with them on every single policy position they hold. As a party, they’re deceitful, manipulative, and wholly disingenuous. It’s not even a question anymore; it’s verifiable fact. Their brand is badly damaged and is about to become completely unsalvageable.

…. This is the rot within the Republican Party. Thanks to Karl Rove, the Architect, the GOP abandoned notions of objective reality in an effort to win elections. They’ve latched onto their own created delusion and show no signs of changing. If they can’t effectively message whatever reality they’re trying to create, then they simply change their position to be counter to the opposition. They’re not concerned with what’s actual. It’s about how they can bend actual to their will but their grip is weakening.

Though cynical and insidious, this strategy has worked so effectively that it won’t be easily abandoned. It created a path to power for Newt Gingrich to become Speaker of the House and propelled George W. Bush to the Oval Office twice. But like all things, this strategy was based on historical/cultural context that’s no longer relevant.

Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) has made a career out of appealing to a certain sense of conservative grievance. He once labeled the Civil War the “War of Yankee Aggression.” He offered legislation to defund a key prong of the Voting Rights Act (a goal that the Roberts Court was happy to achieve for him). And he’s warned that a “socialistic elite” that includes President Obama and congressional Democratic leaders are looking for an excuse to declare martial law — “[t]hey’re trying to develop an environment where they can take over,” in Broun’s words.

So it’s probably not that surprising that his campaign views this as a great way to develop a list of supporters…

President Obama talks on the phone in the Oval Office, Jan. 27. 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama leaves the White House with his Legislative Affairs Director Phil Shiliro en route the U.S. Capitol to meet with Republican members of Congress, Jan. 27, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

On Capitol Hill, President Obama listens to a question from a member of the House Republican caucus, Jan. 27, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama greets kitchen staff prior to a lunch at the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 27, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Obama talks on the phone with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in the Oval Office, Jan. 27, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)

Raymond Joseph, Haiti’s Ambassador to the U.S., kisses the hand of First Lady Michelle Obama at the U.S. Capitol during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, Jan. 27, 2010 (Photo by Samantha Appleton)

President Obama shakes hands with Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at the conclusion of his State of the Union address, Jan. 27, 2010 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Obama walks on stage to deliver a speech about college affordability at the University of Michigan January 27, 2012 in Ann Arbor, Michigan

President Obama looks back as Bo, the Obama family dog, follows him into the Oval Office, Jan. 27, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza)

BERLIN, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden told German TV on Sunday about reports that U.S. government officials want to assassinate him for leaking secret documents about the NSA’s collection of telephone records and emails.

“These people, and they are government officials, have said they would love to put a bullet in my head or poison me when I come out of the supermarket and then watch me die in the shower,” Snowden said.

Delusions of grandeur. Punk. Amk, if you’re still here, go to thinkprogress.org and take a peek at what the CEO of Bayer Pharma said about a certain cancer drug and Indians. Wow. Just wow. Wanted your take…

Yes df. I saw it y’day and replied. As I said, expensive drugs for reducing of pool of well to do only. Great bidness stratergy. Besides, we have devloped our own and eqaully effective generic cancer drugs that cost only a fraction and are major hits in africa and other asian countries.

“You guys want a list. Iowans want a sense of engagement and
conversation and dialogue like they got on the Obama campaign.” The super PAC takes the first of what they say will be many trips to the
early caucus state.
posted on January 27, 2014 at 7:48am EST

by Ruby Cramer

DES MOINES — By Saturday afternoon, Craig Smith
was tired. His jacket was off, sleeves rolled up. He didn’t sleep much on Friday night. After a string of flight delays out of Washington and canceled connections from multiple airports, he finally napped during the snowy midnight drive from Chicago to Des Moines.

The 55-year-old Arkansas native sat at the head of a table before a dozen Iowa Democrats in a brewery downtown. He was trying explain, to the fifth group that day, that “Ready for Hillary” is not Hillary Clinton’s
campaign.

“We’re not setting up offices,” Smith, a senior adviser
to the group, said. “We’re not hiring staff. We’re not doing polling.
We’re not buying TV ads. We’re not making policy pronouncements. We’re not endorsing candidates. We’re not the campaign.”

but but but President Obama can’t connect with the white working class voter. So in other words Iowans back in 2008 and 2012 took a liking to that skinny black fella with the funny sounding name. Hillary’s pac had better stop worrying about a fucking donor list and start worrying about what message she’s going to deliver to get people to vote for her.

I smiled at the tweet of LOLGOP; summarizes it so BRIL-LANT-LY ha ha ha !!

I was just talking about those three SOTU rebuttals in the last thread. But I was just talking to myself because as usual, I was late to the party… So I brought my comment here in the new thread…

************

About the three republican rebuttals to the SOTU…

It doesn’t bother me. It simply makes the republicans look disorganized. And nobody will listen to them anyway. When people take the time to watch the SOTU till the end, they listen to a president delivering a message full of honesty, dignity and common sense. And a positive, uplifting message. And then, it’s the republicans who basically say one thing: everything is bad and everything is the president’s fault. And republicans don’t have anyone who can deliver a speech with at least a bit of charisma. After five minutes, any sane person stops listening.

If by any chance there are a few moderates and independent voters who submit themselves to this … the fact that there are THREE of them, repeating at nauseam that President Obama and democrats are bad bad bad; and freeeeedom, and “job creators” and low taxes for everybody even the rich, and on and on… it will just be so BORING. So, not only three rebuttals won’t help the republicans; it will have the OPPOSITE effect. It will emphasize the idea that they just sound like a broken record. They just have talking points, no real solutions.

The only people who will like the three rebuttals are the republican base.

Another good thing: everybody will quit listening during the republican rebuttals. The pundits trying to build a negative narrative for the president will just talk among themselves.

Congressional Republicans haven’t been shy about their 2014 plans. The entire election-year strategy comes down to obsessive opposition to the Affordable Care Act – the party assumes the law is unpopular, unworkable, and an electoral albatross for Democrats nationwide. Republicans don’t need to govern, the argument goes, they just need to wait for “Obamacare” to implode.

If party strategists worked on a Plan B, it might be time to dust off the file. As Greg Sargent noted this morning, “There are increasing signs that the GOP’s total war opposition to Obamacare is becoming tougher to sustain.

At some point over the next month or so, Congress will have to raise the debt ceiling or risk causing catastrophic economic consequences. There are no other options: either lawmakers pay the nation’s bills or the United States defaults on its obligations, causing untold damage to the global economy.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), true to form, said on “Fox News Sunday” that it’d be “irresponsible” of lawmakers to simply pay the nation’s bills.

It was a fair assessment, but there’s arguably even more to it. Host Bob Schieffer, for example, asked Cruz if there were any circumstances that might lead Cruz to support another government shutdown. The Teas Republican responded:

“Throughout the government shutdown I opposed a government shutdown. I said we shouldn’t shut the government down, I think it was a mistake that President Obama and the Democrats shut the government down this fall. […]

“Right now the Democrats are telling you that they want another shut down, because they think it benefits them politically. Why is it hard to understand that they forced the shut down when they think it benefits them politically.”

Eventually, a slightly confused Schieffer asked, “Senator, if you didn’t threaten the shut down the government who was it that did?”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency warned the Christie administration just days after Hurricane Sandy that its decision to award a no-bid contract to a politically connected firm to haul away debris could jeopardize maximum federal reimbursement for towns, The Star-Ledger has learned.

For months, Gov. Chris Christie has dismissed critics who said his decision to give the Florida-based AshBritt Inc. a contract could add costs for taxpayers in 53 New Jersey towns that employed the firm.

Christie and his staff also say FEMA all but endorsed the contract, which was “piggybacked,” or taken word for word, from a 2008 contract AshBritt had signed with Connecticut.

But a letter sent to Christie by U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) last month discloses the state was warned reimbursments could be at risk because of the contract.

This is great news on the surface – however I will wait for a couple months and see how it turns out before jumping for excitement. Anyway, congrats to Joy Ann, and hope her show brings a positive presence on MSNBC.

Hmm, I’ll reserve judgment too Hopefruit. I really like her, but there seems to be a certain expectation now of MSNBC presenters from their bosses, so I’ll just hope she doesn’t go down the Obama-bashing route – especially ahead of the elections.

msnbc has either ruined or fired anyone of any worth willing to say the truth. Alex Wagner toes the company line, completely prostituting her beliefs for a paycheck. Phil Donohue, Bashir, and many others have seen their careers ruined if they don’t say what msnbc wants them to say.

I have high hopes for Joy Reid. But I’m with you – I’ll reserve judgment to see if she can continue to be what she is under that corporate thumb.

It reminds of that thing with Hello magazine, almost every couple they featured in a wedding photo spread split up in no time at all. Responding to PBO’s SOTU seems to have a similar impact on GOP prezinential ambitions. Such a shame.

Yep, Marco took the cake, I was so caught off guard that I couldn’t speak for about thirty minutes. Later that night I asked my wife what the hell happened, she as like “I saw it, but I can’t believe what I just saw.”

Cody falls into a coverage gap created in Florida and 24 other states, which declined to expand eligibility for Medicaid after the U.S. Supreme Court made that feature of the law optional.

“I’m so frustrated that I fall through the cracks again,” she says, describing how she sometimes injects insulin once a day, rather than twice, so she can afford to buy food.

The lack of coverage, combined with rampant poverty, push Hendry to near the bottom of state and national rankings for virtually every health indicator, including death rates from AIDS and pneumonia, hospitalization rates due to asthma, premature births, cancer screenings and prenatal care.

Like Cody, more than a quarter of Hendry’s residents fall below the poverty level – double the statewide percentage. Nearly 40 percent don’t have a high school diploma and 25 percent say they don’t speak English well.

Ok. There’s a drought because it’s not raining. It’s not raining because weather patterns are being disrupted. Unless there are some shamans among the GOP, I don’t see this is a winning issue. Farmers know rain and snow.

Political analyst Joy-Ann Reid will soon make her debut as a television host on MSNBC, it was announced on Monday.

In a statement released by MSNBC President Phil Griffin, it has been confirmed Reid will anchor the 2 p.m. eastern time hour, Monday through Friday, beginning on February 24.

Griffin also detailed the launch date of Ronan Farrow’s new show, which will air at 1 p.m. on weekdays starting on the same date. Farrow, the son of actress Mia Farrow, has been in the news regarding his addition to the MSNBC daytime roster for several weeks.

I know same folks are worried that having her own show might dilute the excellence we have seen with Joy Reid.
Based on what has happened with Alex Wagner’s show since her move to 4:00 I don’t think we have as much to worry about.
Alex at Noon had a parade of repubs on as commentators. Her panels were often unbearable.
Since the move to 4:00 the panels are gone, the RW like Kathleen Parker and Maggie Haberman are gone, and Alex is doing more straightforward news. At least on the days I tuned in.

So I am optimistic that Joy and Ronan will be delivering substantive hours.

There’s a big difference between the Ted Cruz’ of the world and Michelle Bachmann and Louie Gohmert. Ted Cruz is a phony, a faker; he’s someone that tries to outwit you as opposed to trying to win you over with a sound argument. Michelle Bachmann and Louie Gohmert are true believers, they believe in black helicopters, President Obama being the antichrist, and the government putting fluoride in the water supply to induce mind control. I never had a problem with true believers because true believers will eventually crack under the stress and strain of trying to uphold their beliefs. Ted Cruz is a straight liar and an opportunist, he’s the type of person that will throw a rock and hide his hand. He is dishonest to the core and will eventually lie to those that support his beliefs. In my opinion Ted Cruz is a half-ass Louie Gohmert, Cruz just dresses better. So I welcome the three of four rebuttals to President Obama’s State of the Union Speech, they will be low on useful information but high on the crazy.

The war in NY is apparently over.
Mayor deBlasio and Governor Cuomo just held a joint press conference dealing with the hospital crisis in Brooklyn.
No question—none—-that they have put the various slights behind them and are going to be working together. They talked about their long relationship, teased the reporters together and said that they will handle any differences together.
I don’t know what went so wrong for a while but it has been mended and I am very glad to see it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says steelworkers do not have to be paid for time they spend putting on and taking off protective gear they wear on the job.

The court was unanimous Monday in ruling in favor of United States Steel Corp. over workers’ claims that they should be paid under the terms of federal labor law for the time it takes them to put on flame-retardant jackets and pants, safety glasses, earplugs, hardhats and other equipment.

Justice Antonin Scalia said for the court that the labor agreement between the company and the workers’ union says the employees don’t get paid for time spent changing clothes. Scalia said most of the items count as clothing. He said earplugs, glasses and respirators are not clothing, but take little time to put on.

Chips – I’m just getting here and I see the tweet with Todd’s new nickname (Nostradamus). Not sure I need to see anything else. HaHaHaHaHaHa! (I don’t even care what “POITUS” means.) Thank you, darlin’!!!!!

To wit (don’t know what that means either):

EJ Bashir: MSMsux @theosmelek

Nostradamus aka @ChuckTodd says no one will watch the POITUS’ #SOTU speech. That from the guy who said AA’s wouldn’t turn-out in 2012! #smh